Top 5 Running Backs in Mississippi State History

Number 1: Anthony Dixon

Anthony Dixon didn’t always get the job done in a very pretty fashion, but there was never any player who got it done more consistently than Anthony “Boobie” Dixon.

Anthony Dixon was the very definition of a work horse running back. He leads the school with 910 career rushing attempts. The next closest is a very distant second place by Michael Davis with 578. The Bulldogs had very little offense outside of Anthony Dixon when he played, so it is understandable why the ball was often in his hands. His freshman season was 2006 and was year number 3 of the Croom era. Jerious Norwood had just graduated and headed to the NFL, so someone was going to need to pick up the slack. Boobie was the man for the job. His freshman season he ran the ball 169 times for 668 yards.

In his Sophomore season, Dixon helped lead the Bulldogs to their only bowl under Sylvester Croom. He ran the ball 287 times, still a school record, for 1,066 yards and 14 touchdowns. His success was slowed down in 2008 just like it was for the entire Bulldog team. He ran for 869 yards his Junior season.

In the only year that Dixon would play for Dan Mullen, Dixon thrived like he never had under Croom. Despite a one game suspension that Dixon served in the season opener, Boobie managed to set the school record for yards in a single season with 1,391 in 2009. He averaged 125 yards each game and shattered the career rushing record for yards with 3,994. He holds the record for career rushing touchdowns with 42, 13 more than Vick Ballard who is second on the list.

Dixon was drafted in the sixth round of the NFL draft in 2010 by the San Francisco Forty-Niners. He played with them every year in the league until the most recent season. In the 2014 free agent period, he signed on with the Buffalo Bills.